“We were the first to discover and document how the media, all of them, will use the same word or phrase in covering a story,” Limbaugh declared, citing the media’s use of the word “gravitas” to describe George W. Bush’s choice of Dick Cheney as running mate. Last week, O’Brien did something very similar “as if it had never been done before.” […]

“I will bet you that the 20 writers that Conan has will each win an Emmy for this,” Limbaugh told his listeners, even though he first aired his version fourteen years ago. “This is a dead flat rip-off.” [Mediaite]

DAMMIT.

The segment Limbaugh is upset about is this one, where the staff at Conan compiled the many, many instances of local news anchors saying, “It’s okay, you can admit it, if you bought an item or two … or ten for yourself” during the rush of the holiday shopping season. Now, technically, Conan has been doing this particular bit for well over a year, and the substance of it is something that people in the news business have known about for years, so maybe — maaaaaaaybe — all that’s happening here is Rush Limbaugh trying to stir the fire a little during the first slow news day after his holiday break to see if he can trick people into caring about a made-up controversy about a 14-year-old bit that literally debuted In The Year 2000. I, however, choose to believe that is not the case. Because it would make me look silly for writing about it. And we can’t have that.